.... created in Xara Pro+ & SVGator.
I've yet to do the lights & a train.
DEMO
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.... created in Xara Pro+ & SVGator.
I've yet to do the lights & a train.
DEMO
you make it look so easy - very smoothly done :)
Egg - it's a great job.
Nice one, Egg!
Egg, make it a man-powered pump trolley instead. It's the way we'll all be travelling soon.
Nice graphics.
The UK usually has half-barriers to allow for a trapped motorist to drive out. Full automatic barriers have to be locally monitored.
Get it wrong and you'll incur the wrath of Rod Stewart.
The barriers need a slight bounce at their end stops.
Acorn >:)
Nice animation. svgator, looks interesting. I gave up on trying to do an animation in Xara the other day because I couldn't see a way to do easing.
Thanks folks. It's an ongoing project. Whilst SVGator is good it's in no way as versitile as Flash used to be where you could import numerous .swf files into a single swf file. At present I'm having to create placeholders one above another with various .svg files to create the overall effect. But it keeps me out of the pub!
I'll try getting some bounce on the barriers but meanwhile here's the latest version. Lights included but they need switching off at some times. Crap looking train added. You might need to do Ctrl+F5 to ensure you're viewing the latest version of the svg's ;)
DEMO
I knew there was a train coming! Even two.... =D>
One suggestion: lower the trains a bit. Now they seem too hover above the tracks.
them bogies is on the track, but the fast motion probably makes them appear to fly somewhat; could lower a tad maybe, but the simplicity of the design may mean it makes no difference to the optics outside of a still?
either way it is very well done
Attachment 131934
Easing can be done using the < and > symbols:
"Accelerating and Decelerating
Usually the tween steps are evenly spaced between keyframes, producing a linear animation from one keyframe to the next. By appending < and > symbols to the front of the object name, you can make objects speed up or slow down. So naming an object >Name means that it starts fast and slows. The opposite, <Name, would start slow and speed up.
You can even use these in combinations. So an object name <>Name would start slow, speed up and then slow down towards the end of the frame period. In traditional animator's terminology this is called 'easing', so you can ease in or ease out, and the command <> would be an ease in/out.
You can control the degree of acceleration or deceleration by using numbers from 0 to 9. So <2Name would be a very gentle acceleration, while <9Name would be extreme acceleration. Similar >2 in front of the name would give a slight deceleration. Using the name >Name (with no number) is the same as >5Name.
Example: there is an example file called Pendulum in the Flash Examples section of the Designs Gallery (click the Disc Designs button on the Designs Gallery). The pendulum group uses a combination of <> and the rotate command. Another example called "Zoom.xar" is also worth examining."
Simon, which product are you referring to?
There are no Flash examples supported anymore, which is why @Egg is experimenting with SVGator.
The Disc designs button is to access your local content. In your case, is this a Xara CD?
Where might 'Zoom.xar' found?
Acorn
it works in version 19; I only had a quick look out of curiosity and it appears to me that you can only apply easing frame by frame [not across frames unless I did something wrong]; if that is so then combined with 9 discrete levels only [no curves] it's not very flexible... [which is not to say it isn't useful]
That's just awesome, Egg. I remember using flash many years ago.
Animation looks brilliant.
The barrier motion looks very natural.
Thanks again everybody, good to see so much interest.
Yes, I'm not using Xara for these creation but SVGator which has numerous Easing types. I always disliked gif animations as there's no tweening. You could create it in Xara as Simon states but this was only of use if you were to export as a Flash .swf file which is now long dead.
The train is not only crap but I believe it's too small. I'll try it with a better, larger train.
I wouldn't want to let Acorn down so here's a hand-driven trolley he requested. Can't add it to my level-crossing animation it would require far too much work:
For Acorn
You know by now I @Egg you on.
Truly appreciate the effort.
Acorn
Hi Tom, yes I know that's possible too however there's still the resolution issue. This way of creating is pure vector and the resolution stays sharp whatever the size. That said there may be an issue of the svg eating up computer memory or cpu so it's a bit of a compromise. However the latest version below runs perfectly on my mobile.
I've also added easing so the train enters slowly from the right and speeds up to the left.
Also added wheels at the back so the train looks more like it's running on the track rather than floating.
Latest Version
Here's the new train, I'm far happier with it now:
Looks good to me Egg.
very good :)
The train looks great Egg. I would suggest maybe a shadow under it but then you might need shadows elsewhere and not sure if it fits with the look you're going for.
I agree the easy resizability of the svg animation is super nice. In Xara I created my animation at 1920x1080 for video but yeah it wouldn't be as easy to export it bigger in the future if I needed also I imagine the file size on the svg animation is much smaller for web use no matter what size it is displayed at. Looking at your page source I thought it would be a single animation file but it seems to be separate files for different parts, interesting. I have not explored svg much so this is all new to me.
Thanks peeps.
Yes Tom, there is in fact 5 animations(1 used twice). Apart from the background image the rest have transparent backgrounds. The total size is 173Kb.
Below is an exploded view of the scene.
DEMO
I added a shadow under the train as suggested by Tom. Better or not?
LINK
I don't think so - it's static, ie anchored to the train; a real shadow would track with the light source and POV, as the train moves along; which sounds like a lot of work without scripts to handle it
That just looks wonderful, Egg. I think I'm with handrawn on this one.
I like the shadow but if you feather the shadow edges more in particular at the start/end of the train and make it even more subtle I think it will look good, think of it as just shadowing out some of the ambient light under the train rather than directional sun light. Looks good either way though.
the start and the end of the train will be an issue
I think it would have to be taken right back under the cable/hosing almost to the bogies to stand a chance of looking acceptable
OK, I've reduced the transparency and featering (blurring) until it's almost unnoticible. Other than this I can't follow HD's points.
There is only a single POV and as it's only a 25 second animation so what's to track other than below the train. I realise the other items in the animation have no shadowing but for this purpose it suffices. If you wanted to go into HD's accuracy you'd need to use a 3D program like Cinema3D or Blender.Quote:
... a real shadow would track with the light source and POV
LINK
Since the light source is the sun, and it's a long way away, I wouldn't think that the shadow would move any appreciable distance in that animation anyway.
Shadows don't move depending on your point of view.
I really like the trolley Egg Acorn should too.
Oh he did Larry, he just loves 'egging' me on!Quote:
I really like the trolley Egg Acorn should too.
pov in the sense that the train moves, and therefore the shadows should be seen to move if your eye follows the train movement; of course the viewer's eye may not follow, but I would think in 99% of the time it would
yes I realise that to do it accurately is a bucket full of work - I made that point ;)
If your eyes followed the train the crossing & lights would move to the right not remain stationary as in my animation, thus my point there is only one POV looking straight at the crossing ;)Quote:
pov in the sense that the train moves, and therefore the shadows should be seen to move if your eye follows the train movement